Integrated amp recommendation for Maggie .7's


As the title states I'm looking for an amp recommendation for my Magnepan .7's.

I'm currently using a Belles Aria Signature pre with a pair of Signature monos.

@jjss49 recently described the Belles sound thusly:

"i have owned the belles aria (twice), along with numerous hegels, ayres, some upper older musical fidelities

david belles’ aria is a nice integrated, powerful, very stoutly built, nice phono stage in it too (the remote control is downright cheap though)

sonically, i found the belles to have a little more of a brash personality - more treble energy, some sizzle, a little grain, compared to the more refined hegel and ayre sound... so it depends if you want that or your speakers benefit from a little more sizzle up top...

the ayre, hegel and top flight retro musical fidelity amps (a308, muvista etc) provide a degree of treble sophistication of even higher tier solid state amplification (ample detail and soundstaging free of attendant electronic harshness)"

This seems to jive with my own feelings as well. I've owned probably a dozen different pairs of speakers and the Belles gear has always been the common denominator. 

I'd love to keep my budget to $5k new or used. I don't think I can get an Ayre that will mate well with the Maggies at my budget. It's possible that I can get an Aesthetix Mimas used around the $5k mark. 

Hegel is a brand I have absolutely no experience with. 

Much appreciated!

128x128audionoobie

I am a Maggie dealer so familiar with the different models. They are not a traditional speaker so asking a .7 to produce music at 85+ db's is not realistic. They are not designed for that which is why they are sounding grainy etc... If you want high levels for rock etc. look at different speakers, the amps you have tried are quite good and can easily power a traditional cone speaker to 90 bd levels. Happy listening.

 

Allow me to second the recommendation of The Rogue Pharaoh II. More than enough Class D power with the taming of a Tube Pre-Amp. Feel free to call Nick or Mark directly if you want a straight opinion, but you won't be sorry. BTW, it also fits very comfortably in your budget. Absolutely love mine.

When I auditioned my 1.7i's which I eventually bought, one of the amps I auditioned was the Hegel. It sounded very flat to me, Maggies are such beautiful sounding speakers and the Hegel just did not have it. Eventually bought Conrad-Jhonson separates and still have it, still love it.